Greater New Orleans

None of 3 Mega Millions winners identified yet

BALTIMORE -- The record-breaking Mega Millions jackpot climbed to $656 million on Monday, though no one holding one of the three winning tickets has come forward yet to claim a share of the prize, officials said. Three tickets -- one each in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland -- will split the jackpot, which officials said Monday was higher than previously estimated. It is now at $656 million, after sales from the 44 state lotteries were totaled, up from the previously reported $640 million.

View full sizeTim Vizer, Belleville News-Democrat via APIllinois Moto Mart store manager Denise Metzger was given an oversized check by lottery officials on Saturday in Red Bud, Ill. Lottery officials visited the convenience store in this town of about 3,700 residents to verify that her store had indeed sold one of the three winning Mega Millions lottery tickets.

That means each winner would receive roughly $218 million apiece before taxes.

Winners in all three states have several months -- in the case of Kansas, a year -- to claim the prize. Both Maryland and Kansas allow winners to remain anonymous, though the winner in Illinois will be identified. The three tickets matched all six numbers: 2-4-23-38-46 and the Mega Ball, 23.

In Maryland, the New York Post reported Monday that a McDonald's employee claimed to hold the winning ticket and planned to contact lottery officials Monday. But lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett said no one had come forward with the ticket sold at a 7-Eleven store in Milford Mill outside Baltimore.

That woman, Mirlande Wilson, did not return a phone message from The Associated Press on Monday. Employees of the restaurant told the newspaper that the winning ticket had been purchased jointly by several people, though Wilson said she bought it on her own.

Employees at the restaurant would not comment. The franchise's owner, Birul Desai, said in a statement that the report was purely speculation. He cautioned anyone against jumping to conclusions until the winning ticket is presented and verified.

The winning ticket in Illinois was sold at a convenience store in the small town of Red Bud, south of St. Louis. Kansas officials had not yet revealed the store where that state's winning ticket was purchased.